The bodies of all 29 American and South Korean marines killed in a helicopter crash have been recovered, officials said today.

The Pentagon identified 17 of the American marines, but the name of the 18th victim was being withheld pending notification of his family. Eleven South Koreans were killed when the helicopter crashed into a mountain 200 miles southeast of Seoul during a joint military exercise.

The Pentagon said that four of the Americans were from the New York area. It identified them as Gunnery Sgt. Richard L. Djelko, of Danbury, Conn.; Lance Cpl. Fernando Rosales Jr., of Brentwood, L.I.; Pfc. John M. Andrews 3d, of Watchung, N.J., and Capt. Steven Burley, of Magnolia, N.J.

The San Diego Union – 26 March 1984

Deceased Name: Pentagon lists Marine dead in Korean copter crash The bodies of all 29 U.S. and South Korean marines killed in a helicopter crash have been recovered from the mountain where they died during a joint military exercise, officials said yesterday.

In Washington, the Pentagon identified the 18 U.S. Marines who perished.

Fourteen of the Americans were from Company L of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base near Oceanside and had been on a six-month assignment to South Korea, according to a base spokesman. Marine spokesmen at Camp Pendleton and in Washington yesterday said they could not say which of the victims on the Pentagon's list were from Camp Pendleton.

Eleven South Koreans were killed. A U.S. military official in Seoul confirmed there were no survivors of the crash.

The remains were transported to Seoul to an army mortuary at Yongsan, the large U.S. base in the South Korean capital pending return to the United States. The search for the bodies in a mountainous coastal area about 200 miles southeast of Seoul had gone on since the U.S. Marine Corps CH-53D chopper smashed into a mountainside early Saturday morning.

The helicopter was one of six taking part in a night training exercise. The military said the weather was above minimum standards when the helicopters took off but that rain and high winds developed and the mission was scrubbed.

The helicopter was heading back to the base at the southeast coastal port town of Pohang when it plowed into the mountainside.

The training was part of a combined program called Team Spirit '84 involving about 60,000 U.S. and 147,500 South Korean military personnel, which began Feb. 1 and will be completed in April. Team Spirit maneuvers have been held annually for the past nine years.

Earlier this week, nearly 50,000 American and South Korean marines carried out a major amphibious assault landing on the beaches around Pohang. The U.S. Navy vessels supporting that operation included the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk========================================================The Evening Tribune - March 26, 1984

A memorial service for the Camp Pendleton Marines will be conducted at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Camp Pendleton's Santa Margarita Chapel, a base spokesman said. The public is invited.The helicopter, carrying 18 U.S. Marines and 11 Republic of Korea marines on a military exercise, slammed into a mountainside Saturday in bad weather about 24 miles north of Pohang.